A Change in View
by Lightyy
Summary: Rika always thought she treated her pokemon wonderfully. Her pokemon companion thought otherwise. These two conflicting viewpoints made their relationship on the brink of collapse. Maybe it'll all change if she gets a change in perspective...


**The Beginning**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

The sky was painted a crimson orange. Brining its light and warmth with it, the last bit of the sun sunk over the horizon. Some of the brighter stars were up and about, giving off their brilliance to the orange work of art. Then, a small evening breeze blew by, bringing leftover leaves on the ground with it. A few pidoves chirped in the distance, trying to find shelter for the night.

Tree branches swayed back an forth as another wind blew by. It wasn't cold, yet it was a nice contrast to the warm weather in the area. Small wild pokemon were already in their nests, tired with all the work they have done for today. The wind died and all sound faded. Everything was prepared to sleep for the night...

"YEAH! NICE HIT!" Except for these two trainers and their pokemon.

"Come on, Snivy!" Rika called out. Her serpentine friend was just hit by a well placed ember from his fiery opponent, a Growlithe. The area around Snivy. which used to be a patch of grass with a few daisies, was already a burnt crisp, and every step he took was met with a loud crunch. Struggling to recover, Snivy was trying to put out all the small embers still on him.

However, he pulled through and was able to free himself from his burns. Rika felt proud as she saw Snivy overcome this challenge. This was something that she wanted him to learn, overcoming challenges.

Rika knew that Snivy had a gigantic disadvantage towards this Growlithe, being a grass type. But, this is the exact reason she wanted to battle this trainer. Practicing with the odds stacked against Snivy was good practice for both of them, Snivy and her. She knew that grass is very fragile to many common types such as bug and fire, so Snivy has to be prepared to eventually face someone with the advantage.

Unlike many of her fellow sixteen year old females, Rika always wanted to become a pokemon trainer. She doesn't want to become the pokemon champion like most of the other trainers though. That's too cliche. Her dream is to travel the world with her friends that she would make on her journey. Still sounds pretty cliche, but whatever.

Most of her friends didn't want to leave their familiar, comfortable, and yet boring life. They all wanted to be photographers, artists, modelers, and all those boring jobs. She just couldn't understand them. Why would anyone choose those jobs over a life of adventure? A life that you can control? It just didn't make sense to her, but what can you do?

She had nothing against them, of course. They were still her friends. But, it would of been cool if at least one stuck with her throughout her journey. It would make things much interesting, wouldn't it? That would just be just perfect, she thought. Sure, Snivy counts as company, but she still feels lonely at times. Sometimes it takes someone who could talk to you back, you know? The more the merrier. Instead, she has an amazing party of one pokemon, her starter, Snivy.

Something else she wanted to experience with her friend was friendly competition. She felt that with someone to compete against, she would be more encouraged to train and practice and maybe Snivy would too.

This, however, doesn't mean she didn't want to train. In fact, Rika always pushed Snivy to the max when training. She never really thought anything about this, though. It just never crossed her mind.

What she did notice, was Snivy's change in attitude. When Rika first received him, he was the best pokemon one could ask for. He was cooperative and always listened to his trainer's command. After a few weeks of hardcore training, he has become unresponsive to a few of her commands. He constantly ignored her at times.

This, in turn, frustrated her a great deal. Rika thought that he was doing this because he didn't want to improve as much as she did. The frustration then made her think about her decision in choosing Snivy as her starter. At the beginning of her journey, she was given two choices, either an Oshawott, or this little green serpent-like pokemon. What if she chose Oshawott as her starter? Would anything change? She never told this to Snivy, of course, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Snivy! Use razor leaf!" Rika called out. The serpentine creature nodded and shot out two quick, deadly quick leaves at his opponent. Growlithe, unfazed by this attack, got ready to counter this attack by burning down the leaves. "Run in and use tackle!" Rika continued. Snivy charged the distracted opponent of his, who was clearly focused at the leaves flying at him. Not noticing Snivy, Snivy was able to get a direct hit, which knocked down the Growlithe and sent it a few feet away. However, it wasn't done yet. The two leaves that weren't blocked then followed up Snivy's attack and struck the stunned Growlithe, making it yelp in pain.

"Good job, Snivy!" Rika grinned as her plan worked. Snivy jumped back to his original position and stood there confidently. However, this battle was far from over. A measly tackle and a not effective move didn't do much to hurt the Growlithe as much as she hoped it would. But no matter, she just has to make another few of these combos, right?

Wrong. What looked like a good start to winning the battle, turned into a one-sided fight. After many skirmishes between the two pokemon, the small meadow that the battle took place on turned into a scorched wasteland. Every blade of grass was charred and flowers were burnt into crisp. The small embers in the field lit up the now night sky. This battle has gone on long enough for the sun to fully set and allow the moon to shine in its place.

Snivy was constantly dodging the barrage of embers Growlithe was firing at him, resulting in him getting exhausted. To make it even worse, any attack that Snivy could attack Growlithe with would either get dodged, burnt, or barely do anything to it. After dodging one more ember, Snivy sunk to his knees. Rika could tell Snivy was out of confidence for this fight.

The other trainer did too. "Growlithe! Let's finish this. Flame wheel!" This was it. If Snivy get's hit by this, it'll be all over. Growlithe let out a howl, and then charged right at Snivy, a few embers flying off it as it ran.

Luckily, Growlithe was running straight. A very predictable path. With a sigh of relief, Rika told Snivy to get out the way. But he didn't budge. "Snivy! Dodge it!" He stood still and braced himself for impact. "Sni-"

THUD

Snivy, taking full frontal attack from Growlithe, was sent flying. Landing a few feet away from his original position, he was instantly KO'd.

Crestfallen, Rika recalled Snivy back into his pokeball, and stuffed it into her pocket. "Hmph." She mumbled. Why would he ever do such a thing? Rika stood there for a few moments, in shock, trying to think what just happened. Then something tapped her on the shoulder. It was the other trainer.

Recovering, she shook her head, and shook hands with the other trainer. Even though she lost she still had to show sportsmanship. They complimented each other of things they did well and them told each other areas that they could improve on.

As she expected, the trainer told her that she could improve on making her pokemon follow what she says. Biting back and sharp response, she gritted her teeth. Faking a smile, she thanked him, and parted ways with the trainer.

She walked down a small gravel road, lit up by small lampposts to the side. This road lead to Petal City, the closest city to her battle location.  
As she walked down the road, she looked up at the sky, gazing upon the different sizes and shapes of the stars. Each with their own unique brightness.

Before she knew it, Rika arrived at the entrance of Petal City. Don't let it's name confuse you, though. It's called Petal 'City,' but it's more like a village. But no one really cared enough to actually change the name, so it was kept the way it was.

Petal City received its name from all of the cherry blossoms there. Every spring, the flowers on the small tress will bloom, giving everywhere in the city a nice, beautiful scenery. However, the best part is in the fall, when the petals begin the fall. The falling petals just give the city such a calm and relaxed atmosphere.

Entering the city, she headed for the pokemon center. The usual busy streets were silenced by this hour. Rika made her way on the cobblestone road, still seeing a few passerbys at this hour. She then saw a small ratata pass the sidewalk and into a dark alleyway. Suddenly, a cold breeze blew by, making Rika clutch onto her jacket. Winter has just finished, however that doesn't mean it'll not be cold, especially during the night.

Finding nothing else interesting to see, Rika looked up, towards the sky again. Petal City always has a nice view of the stars in the sky due to having little light pollution. Rika didn't really like staying in large cities because of this reason. The city gives off so much light during the night, one wouldn't be able to see the natural light that the earth gives off. It's much more beautiful than their artificial lights. There were little clouds in the sky, but one could see it due to the silver outlining of its shape, provided by the shining crescent moon.

Finally she made it to the pokemon center. In the night like this, it was like a gigantic lit up lightbulb, with this many lights on. As she entered, Rika noticed how busy it still was in here, despite it already being the night. There were a few trainers just hanging around in the lobby, chatting, as their pokemon fooled around elsewhere.

Nurse Joy saw her enter and gave Rika the same warm smile she gives everyone who enters the center. Rika walked up to Nurse Joy, who did a quick bow, and began, "Welcome to the pokemon center! What may we do for you today?"

Rika responded, "I would like a room for the night, and can you recover Snivy for me?" She said, bringing the pokeball out of her pocket.

Nurse Joy nodded and took the pokeball. In return, she gave Rika key card to the room she'll be staying in tonight. "You room shall be room 215 for tonight. We'll give that room a call when your pokemon has fully recovered."

"Awesome, thanks."

Nurse Joy did another quick bow as Rika left the lobby to go to the elevator. Each pokemon center has three floors to house trainers. It gives them a safe place to sleep and rest. Luckily, it's complimentary for being a trainer, because Rika's cash pile is severely lacking.

The elevator door opened with a 'DING!' as she arrived at the second floor hallway. Rika checked the room numbers until she arrived at her room, room 215. After swiping the key card, Rika entered the room. She placed her backpack on the table near her bed and took off her jacket, hanging it on the back of the chair.

She walked over to the window and opened the covers. The night sky was always something she was interested in. Looking at it always calmed her whenever she was frustrated about something. Rika opened up the second pocket of her backpack and brought out a few berries. Berries always have different uses, like healing one's pokemon, or curing any lasting status effects. However, these berries are going to serve a different purpose. This is going to be her dinner.

It wasn't much but it was what she could afford. In fact, she got these berries from the wild, so Rika could basically afford nothing. She never really thought money would be a problem when she started her journey. She thought the amount that she brought would be enough. Rika was very wrong. She lost almost half of it on the first week of her journey.

After she finished her "dinner," Rika went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face. Now cleaned up, she laid on the bed, awaiting the call from Nurse Joy. A few minutes later, the phone beside the bed rang. It was what Rika expected, The nurse telling her that Snivy has fully recovered and she could come retrieve him.

Coming back from her little trip to the first floor, Rika held Snivy's pokeball in her hand. She had something she wanted to discuss with him, so she released him.

After the bright red light faded from releasing Snivy, Rika could see the serpentine pokemon looking at her annoyingly.

"Hey Snivy," Rika began. "About that last battle..."

Ignoring her, Snivy turned away, not giving her a look. "You could of dodged that last attack. Why didn't you?" Rika questioned. Snivy didn't make any movement.

"Snivy, please. I'm trying to help you, but ignoring me wouldn't help us at all." Rika was starting to get bit annoyed herself. Why can he recognize that she's trying to make him become stronger? After weeks of training, this is how she's repaid? She believed that training is just as hard for the trainer as it is for the pokemon. However, he wouldn't listen.

"Hey! I didn't ask for this either! You not cooperating is what got us, both, into this mess!" Anger welled up inside her. This is that last straw. Something has got to change, or her journey is going to end before it even started. "Now look at where we are!" She pointed towards the remains of her dinner. "This is what we live off! Berries! They aren't even the good kind that people sell in markets, they're the ones that no one wants!"

Rika began to feel sadness among her anger. Why was she going through all this frustration? In her rage, her mind directed the blame all towards Snivy. "I just wanted to make you better Snivy! You used to be one hell of an awesome pokemon you know? Why did you change? We wouldn't be going through this if you just cooperated!"

Snivy, trying to still ignore her, stared outside the window, looking at the stars. However try as he will, he was still listening to what she was saying, and it made him even sadder. Rika didn't know that though, she thought he was still ignoring her. This angered her even more.

"You know what? I..." She quickly thought of something to say. Something came to mind and she quickly yelled it out without thinking. "I think that I would of been much better off with Oshawott!" Rika gasped and covered her mouth as she said that. Even in her rage, she knew that went a little too far. Snivy shot her a pained look, and quickly jumped off the table and opened the door. "No! Snivy, I didn't mean it!" She ran towards the door, however, he left and shut the door in her face.

"I..." She muttered sadly as she sat down on the bed, letting all the past events catch up to her. It was too much. "Why me?" She laid down and cried, hugging her pillow. This was really bad. Rika would rather have a journey with a rebellious pokemon and with none at all. Wiping away her tears, she got ready to leave the room. She shouldn't have let Snivy go.

Running out the door, she scouted the hallway, then the first floor of the pokemon center. Snivy wasn't to be found. After checking around the pokemon center, the lobby, and all three floors about three times, she left it and ran around Petal City. "Snivy! Snivy! Where are you?" She called out. She didn't care if she looked like a crazy woman, she wanted to find Snivy. Rika didn't want to lose him all because of some stupid thing she blurted out. She didn't even mean it.

Rika returned to her room in the pokemon center very late at night, or one could say, very early in the morning. All her searching was futile, Snivy was nowhere to be found. Tears stainer her face as she just fell onto her bed. The bed made a loud creak as she crashed onto it. Laying her head onto one of the comfortable pokemon center pillows, she just thought. What is she going to do? What's going to happen tomorrow? Questions like these buzzed around her head, and it was a long time before she was able to fall asleep.

* * *

Rika shifted uncomfortably. She couldn't feel the soft matress that she slept on underneath her. "Rika..." A soft voice called out towards her.

Unmoving, Rika slowly opened an eye. "Wah?" She managed out. She brought a hand over to rub her eyes, and was shocked at what she saw when her vision became clearer. She was definitely not at the pokemon center anymore. The world around was... literally nothing, to be exact. It was just white. White to the left, white to the right. Even the 'floor' was white, if you could consider it a floor. What Rika was laying on, is also nothing.

Quickly standing up, Rika was confused and scared at the same time. Many questions buzzed around her head like little flies.

"Rika!" The voice cried out loudy this time.

Startled by the sudden cry, Rika made her jump. "What? Who are you?" She looked around her. There was no one there. The area around her was still a pure white. "Where am I?!" She cried out.

"You're dreaming."

That doesn't help at al- She stopped. That actually makes a lot of sense. However, she wasn't satisfied. There were still many questions that she wanted answered. "Why am I having this dream? Is it you who brought me here?"

The voice was silent for a bit, then responded. "Yes, Rika. I brought you here. And gosh, you ask a lot of questions don't you?"

Rika rolled her eyes. "I only do this because I'm confused. Not so much scared, anymore."

"Are you going to 'hit yourself in confusion?'"

"What?"

"You should, you ask to many questions."

"Hey!"

The voice chuckled as it finished saying that.

Clearly annoyed, Rika began, "Okay, now you've had your fun, tell my why you brought me here."

"Well, okay." The voice responded. "I've brought you here because of the relationship of you and Snivy."

Rika saddened when he mentioned Snivy. The incident that happened... this night, was still fresh on her mind. "I-I know..." She muttered. Then, defending herself, she added, "But he's not faultless either!"

"And that is exactly when conflict happens." The voice responded. "So I've decided something that... hmm..."

"Just tell me already!"

"I think this might help you realize something..." The voice paused for a bit again. "... You can call it a 'new perspective.'"

"What? What do you mean?" This person/thing was starting to get on her nerves.

The voice ignored her question and continued. "Your life is about to take a turn for the better... Or worse. It's what you make of it."

"What?" Rika cried out in vain as she physically felt the source of the voice leave the dream. There are still so many questions she wanted to ask! However, the world around her faded away, and she was driven back to darkness.


End file.
